Pictures from Italy (Paperback, Revised)

After finishing Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens holidayed in Italy for a year. But, of course, he wrote about his travels and here is 'a chaotic magic-lantern show' of 19th-century Genoa, Parma, Verona, Rome, Pisa, Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum... The only drawback about this wonderful book is the 25 pages of largely superfluous notes. Ignore them, and enjoy what must certainly have been the best travel book of 1846. (Kirkus UK)

After Martin Chuzzlewit was published in 1844, Dickens deliberately took a break from novels to travel in Italy for almost a year.

Bored by many traditional tourist sites and repelled by the greed and empty rituals of the Catholic church, Dickens is far more attracted by urban desolation, the colourful life of the streets and visible signs of the nation's richly textured past. He is especially drawn to the costumes, cross-dressing and sheer exuberant energy of the Roman carnival. Although seldom overtly political, Pictures from Italy often touches on the corruption and cruelty of Italian history, the grinding poverty and a sense of continuing oppression lurking just below the surface. A thrilling travelogue which is also deeply revealing about its author's current anxieties and concerns, this neglected work deserves a secure place among the masterpieces of Dickens's maturity.

General

Imprint:	Penguin Classics
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	1998
First published:	July 1998
Authors:	Charles Dickens
Introduction by:	Kate Flint
Notes by:	Kate Flint
Dimensions:	198 x 129 x 16mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - B-format
Pages:	272
Edition:	Revised
ISBN-13:	978-0-14-043431-6
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Essays, journals, letters & other prose works > General Books > Sport & Leisure > Travel & holiday > Travel writing > Classic travel writing Books > Travel > Travel writing > Classic travel writing
LSN:	0-14-043431-3
Barcode:	9780140434316

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